Travel Mexico

By: Galen Frysinger

Bullfighting in MexicoThe Spanish occupation of Mexico led to the rise of bullfighting in the country. Also known as fiesta brava, the sport has been one of the most popular in the country for the last 400 years.

Bullfighting in Mexico is similar to the Spanish style of bullfighting. Matadores perform specific moves, occasionally using a piece of red cloth, to attract a bull in a graceful manner. Typically, a bullfighting show includes rodeos, pig chases and dances, before the bullfight begins. In the end, the bull is killed with a sword.

Thousands of bullfighting events occur annually in Mexico. In certain areas in the country, bullfighting rakes in huge amounts of money yearly, coming from both tourists and fellow Mexicans.

As evidence of the popularity of the sport, the largest bullring in the world can be found in Mexico. The bullring is known as Plaza Mexico, which is located in Ciudad de los Deportes, Mexico City. Plaza Mexico can seat around 40,000 people. It was opened on February 5, 1946. The anniversary of the opening of Plaza Mexico has been celebrated every year thereafter with a special bullfight called the Corrida de Aniversario.

Of course, with popularity comes controversy. Organizations promoting animal rights have rallied against the sport of bullfighting in Mexico. They argued that the sport was not only dangerous for the matador, but more so for the horses and, of course, the bulls. Other actions against bullfighting were also done, such as the establishment of humane education programs and the creation of mascot Pepe the Bull. At one point, individuals under 18 years old were banned from watching the sport. However, fans protested by bringing their families to watch the sport.

Bullfighting remains prominent during the dry season, about November to March. Tickets may be bought at the bullring. Prices for the tickets vary, ranging anywhere from $5 to $55.

Six bulls, to be killed by three matadors, are usually required for one afternoon’s corrida, and each encounter lasts about 15 minutes. At the appointed time, generally five o’clock, the three matadors, each followed by their assistants, the banderilleros and the picadors, march into the ring to the accompaniment of traditional paso doble (“march rhythm”) music. The matadors (the term toreador, popularized by the French opera Carmen, is erroneous usage) are the stars of the show. They wear a distinctive costume, consisting of a silk jacket heavily embroidered in gold, skintight pants, and a montera (a bicorne hat). A traje de luces (“suit of lights”), as it is known, can cost several thousand dollars; a top matador must have at least six of them a season.

the bull

When a bull first comes into the arena out of the toril, or bull pen gate, the matador greets it with a series of maneuvers, or passes, with a large cape; these passes are usually verónicas, the basic cape maneuver (named for the woman who held out a cloth to Christ on his way to the crucifixion).

the team

The amount of applause the matador receives is based on his proximity to the horns of the bull, his tranquility in the face of danger, and his grace in swinging the cape in front of an infuriated animal weighing more than 460 kg (more than 1000 lb). The bull instinctively goes for the cloth because it is a large, moving target, not because of its color; bulls are color-blind and charge just as readily at the inside of the cape, which is yellow.

Fighting bulls charge instantly at anything that moves because of their natural instinct and centuries of special breeding. Unlike domestic bulls, they do not have to be trained to charge, nor are they starved or tortured to make them savage. Those animals selected for the corrida are allowed to live a year longer than those assigned to the slaughter house. Bulls to be fought by novilleros (“beginners”) are supposed to be three years old and those fought by full matadors are supposed to be at least four.

the padded horse

The second part of the corrida consists of the work of the picadors, bearing lances and mounted on horses (padded in compliance with a ruling passed in 1930 and therefore rarely injured). The picadors wear flat-brimmed, beige felt hats called castoreños, silver-embroidered jackets, chamois trousers, and steel leg armor. After three lancings or less, depending on the judgment of the president of the corrida for that day, a trumpet blows, and the banderilleros, working on foot, advance to place their banderillas (brightly adorned, barbed sticks) in the bull’s shoulders in order to lower its head for the eventual kill. They wear costumes similar to those of their matadors but their jackets and pants are embroidered in silver.

attacking the horse

score one for the bull

separating the bull from the fallen horse and rider

remounting

still fighting

chasing the matador

cornered and hurting

the kill

After several minutes spent in making passes, wherein the matador tries to stimulate the excitement of the crowd by working closer and closer to the horns, the fighter takes the sword and lines up the bull for the kill. The blade must go between the shoulder blades; because the space between them is very small, it is imperative that the front feet of the bull be together as the matador hurtles over the horns. The kill, properly done by aiming straight over the bull’s horns and plunging the sword between its withers into the aorta region, requires discipline, training, and raw courage; for this reason it is known as the “moment of truth.”

This entry was posted
on Thursday, April 14th, 2016 at 6:30 am and is filed under Travel.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Gotta Comment?
If you've got a comment or opinion you'd like to share, send me an email or fill the comment fields bellow, with only requirements your name and email address. I might just publish you in glorious pixilated black & white! Comments may be edited for grammar, spelling and length, or just to make them better.

Submit your own stories for the Zdenko’s Corner about rides, Gran Fondo’s, having a good time traveling and/or cycling, Croatian cycling history, etc. All stories are very welcome. There are more than 400 stories already in this blog. The search feature at the top right, works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also translating button at the top of every story so you can translate each page to language of your choice.

10 comments to “Bull fighting”

Congratulations for posting such a useful blog. Your blog is not only informative but also very artistic too. There normally are extremely couple of people who can write not so simple articles that creatively. Keep up the good work !!

This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing websites that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free. It?s the old what goes around comes around routine.

Man I love your post and it was so informational and I am definetly going to bookmark it. One thing to say the Indepth analysis this article has is trully remarkable.Who goes that extra mile these days? Bravo. Just one more tip you shouldget a Translator Application for your Worldwide Readers .

I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days..

Hi, I just wanted to say that I found your blog intriguing. It truly is organized in an orderly way, and your content articles are well-written. Are you a professional article writer? You seem to have the writing ability to make a very good living. Anyways, talking to myself here.

Have you ever considered writing an e-book or guest authoring on other blogs? I have a blog based on the same topics you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my audience would enjoy your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail.